Ofsted announces sector engagement programme to ready education providers for November start to inspections

The programme of webinars and regional events will continue throughout the autumn term, offering providers a range of opportunities to familiarise themselves with the changes, ahead of inspections under the renewed framework beginning in November.

Ofsted will hold live webinars for different provider types across each education remit, setting out the key changes to inspection. Recordings of each webinar will be available on Ofsted’s YouTube channel afterwards.

• For the early years sector, there will be separate webinars for childminders; group-based provision; and out-of-school-clubs.
• For schools, individual webinars will be hosted for maintained nurseries; primaries; secondaries; non-association independent schools; University Technical Colleges (UTCs); special schools; and alternative provision.
• For further education and skills, there will be webinars for specific provision types, including 16 to 19 programmes; apprenticeship providers; adult learning providers; and high needs provision.
• For initial teacher education (ITE), there will be a webinar for providers of any/all phases of ITE, and another for providers of ITE programmes for the further education and skills sector.

The engagement programme will be bolstered by face-to-face and online regional events, hosted by local providers, local authorities and partners. These events will help providers build on their understanding of the renewed framework, supported by published materials. Ofsted will share further details about events in the coming weeks.

Nominees

For many years, Ofsted has successfully used a system of nominees to support inspections of further education and skills providers. Nominees help the inspection process run smoothly and collaboratively, through planning, communication and engagement with the inspection team. They provide contextual information about their setting and strengthen the professional dialogue between inspectors and leaders.

From November, nominees will be introduced to inspections across other education remits, where relevant. In advance of the renewed framework, Ofsted will offer a short online training package tailored for nominees in specific remits. These sessions will provide an overview of the framework and more information on how nominees can work together with inspectors during a future inspection.

More details about the nominee training package will be released following the consultation response in September.

All education inspectors will complete comprehensive training to support the transition to the renewed framework. Full inspector training materials will be published online, via the Ofsted Academy, once inspectors have completed face-to-face training. In addition to this training package, Ofsted will undertake pilot visits to volunteer settings, giving inspectors vital experience of full, end-to-end inspections before November.

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, said:

I want to reassure education providers that, through our national engagement programme and published materials, they will be able to familiarise themselves with the changes during the first part of the autumn term – while routine school and further education and skills inspections are on hold.

Our Inspectors will all receive extensive training between now and November, and many will have had the experience of a full pilot inspection. I know there are some concerns about the timeline for these changes, that’s why we are planning such a comprehensive programme. I have every confidence that our approach will support a successful roll-out of new-look inspections in November.

Notes

1. It will not be mandatory for every school or early years provider to appoint a nominee.
2. The nominee for early years should be the individual who knows the setting and children the best. This is a different role from the nominated individual and will be covered in the early years webinars.

source: GOV